PMC Prophecy1 – Timing Beast!

Intro

Alpha Audio is honestly quite a fan of studio brands. We simply cannot think of any brands with studio roots that perform poorly. Especially if you look at the prices; studio equipment tends to be priced favorably. Benchmark, PMC, ATC, Lynx and also “high-end” studio equipment like DAD and Grimm perform excellently in relation to price. We now look at the kindly priced PMC Prophecy1 monitor speaker. The price: 3699 Euros per pair!

PMC is a wonderful brand that has more than earned its spurs in the professional world. Many a high-end recording studio features PMC. Not entirely surprisingly, the three letters stand for: (The) Professional Monitor Company. Funnily enough, it is a fairly young company: it was founded in 1991. So it is “only” 34 years old!

New lines!

In 2023, the brand new Prodigy line was introduced at High End Munich. Two years later, the Prophecy was added. A line offering a little more luxury, resolution and insight into the music. But still at a “normal” price, as befits pro brands often.

The Prophecy not only has some better units and more luxurious components in the filter. The entire enclosure is stiffer, the ATL system is more luxurious (including complete metal, as you can see in the speaker’s “base”) and the finishes are a bit more diverse than in the Prodigy line, which is only available in black.

Also, the Prophecy line is a bit more comprehensive. Where the Prodigy only offers a ‘1’ and ‘5’; with the PMC Prophecy we see a ‘1’, a ‘5’, a ‘7’ and a ‘9’. The ‘7’ and ‘9’ offer a dome center unit familiar from PMC’s higher-end series, such as the FACT. Just know that the step from the Prophecy ‘5’ to the ‘7’ is quite spicy in terms of price: that dome mid unit is pricey.

About the PMC Prophecy1

The PMC Prophecy1 is a two-way monitor with thus PMC’s ATL system with LaminairX port system. Although the box is quite compact (especially narrow), according to the specifications this Prophecy still reaches 50 Hz -3dB. That’s pretty true judging by our measurements.

PMC wouldn’t be PMC if virtually everything revolves around this ATL system. However, we also see that the units are of high quality and the finish of the entire speaker is extremely neat. It really is a beautiful speaker to behold! And partly due to the metal part around the ATL system, the speaker also feels robust and sturdy. And although 3699 Euros remains a lot of money, we now often see that competitors are sometimes a bit too generous in saving on important parts…!

We always play music without a front panel. But PMC does supply nice fronts with it. On the back are nice terminals in the bottom of the speaker to connect speaker cables. There is no bi-wiring possible. Not even with the ‘5’, ‘7’ and ‘9’.

The PMC Prophecy1 is not very difficult to drive. With an output of 85dB/ 1W / 1M, although the efficiency is not that high, the impedance is nicely under control and does not dip. You will see this later in the measurements as well. The electrical phase can be tricky at times, though, so a stable amplifier is necessary. The PMC does not necessarily require a lot of watts. For your information, a stable Bryston PowerPAC-300 pushes through it with ease. A comparable quality amp should be able to do the same.